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California based Ponzi scheme managers charged

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it has charged BNZ, a Newport Beach, California-based company, and its co-founders and co-managers Brett Barber and Louis Zimmerle, for fraudulently raising $13.5 million from more than 100 retail investors.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed on October 28, 2021, since June 2019, BNZ, Barber, and Zimmerle have raised $13.5 million from retail investors by telling them BNZ was in the business of making investments in real estate and alternative investments and promising to pay investors significant returns, generally 10% per year. The complaint alleges that the defendants used only $6.4 million of the $13.5 million raised from investors to invest in real estate and alternative investments, and those investments generated just $300,000 in profits.

Despite generating minimal profits, the defendants allegedly paid investors returns of at least $1.7 million using funds raised from other investors in Ponzi-like fashion, and transferred over $1.6 million to Barber through his company, Guaranteed Income Solutions Inc., and over $700,000 to Zimmerle. The defendants are alleged to have made false and misleading statements to investors regarding, among other things, the source of the payment of the investor returns. In addition, Barber allegedly misled investors by touting his education in finance and his investment experience without also disclosing that he had been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from affiliating with any member firm.

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